Chicago Area Conservation Group

The Chicago Area Conservation Group is pleased to present for our
November, 1997 meeting, Metals Conservator Elzbieta Nosek of Krakow,
Poland

Ms. Nosek has just arrived from an international conference  in
Sweden where she presented the paper she brings to us: "Some Aspects
of the Conservation of the Statue of King Sigismund"

The statue of Sigismund the III Vasa, fixed on the top of a column
was created by his son Vladislav IV, in the beginning of the 17thC.
It became the symbol of the capital of Poland. Since that time the
statue has been repaired several times, and at the end of the Second
World War the column with the King was destroyed by the German army.
In the beginning of 1949, all of the pieces of the statue were
reassembled and the statue was once again placed on top of the
column. During an inspection carried out in 1996, severe damage was
noticed.  Among them deep, long cracks through the metal on the
King's arms and legs as well as several gaps on the whole figure
were observed.  During the restoration in 1949, cement was poured
inside the bottom, and the cracks were filled with Pb-Sn alloy.  As
a result, the reaction of the bronze with the cement accelerated the
corrosion process.  Apart from the presence of basic copper
sulphate, the copper chloride hydroxides were found.  This paper
deals with the treatment comprising of the removal of cement, the
making of the new bronze support and the complexing of chlorides by
acetonitryl solution.

Elzbieta Marin Nosek is currently Head of the Research and
Conservation Department of the Archaeological Museum in Krakow,
Poland, specializing in metals conservation. Ms. Nosek received her
Doctor of Science degree in 1979 and is a member of ICOM-CC, Ancient
Metallurgy Committee.  Her main area of research has been on the
metallography and corrosion of ancient metal objects and their
techniques. Ms. Nosek is the author of 61 publications on corrosion,
conservation and ancient metal techniques.

Please join us at the Chicago Historical Society, (Clark St. at
North Ave.) Wednesday, November 12th in the Rubloff Auditorium.
Refreshments will begin at 6:00 PM.

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:42
                Distributed: Wednesday, November 5, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-11-42-006
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